Welcome to the German GTI-National Focal Point website

Why does the world need taxonomy?
Taxonomy is the area of biological research that deals with the naming (nomenclature), identification and classification of organisms. For the task of systematically organizing nature taxonomists use morphological traits (e.g. anatomy, flower composition). They also employ methods of chemistry, biochemistry and genetics in order to clarify relations between different organisms. Depending on area of expertise taxonomists conduct their work in natural collections, museums, botanical gardens, industries (e.g. pharmaceutical industry), universities and other research institutions. Although results of taxonomic research often remain “invisible” they constitute the foundation for many research endeavours in the field of life science.

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Case studies

Distribution mechanisms of coral larvae support designation of marine conservation areas

9. November 2011 - 16:16 — l.chamsai

Photo: Andreas Hallerbach / Flickr

Many marine organisms have mobile larvae and only at later life stages establish sessile colonies. Although several reseach projects on this topic exist, there is not much known about distribution mechanisms, which reflects there complexity and dependency on multiple factors such as age, survival rates und swimming speed of larvae but also on environmental conditions

Lace bug as biological control in Southafrica and New Zealand

31. October 2011 - 14:26 — l.chamsai

Photo: cotinis / Flickr

In 1984 research was conducted in order to combat the invasive Southamerican plant Solanum mauritanum which had spread in the humid areas of Southafrica and had caused massive environmental problems there. Scientists studied 11 diffrent biological control agents with the aim to identify one with a high host specifity in order to prevent uncrontrolled dispersal and damage to other plant species. The study heavily relied on taxonomic expertise.

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GTI stands for Global Taxonomy Initiative, which was established in 1998 as part of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) in order to strengthen taxonomic knowldege and resources. The GTI is a cross-cutting issue of the CBD. This indicates the relevance of GTI for other thematic programme contents and is also conveyed by the content of its work programme. The GTI generally consists of National Focal Points (NFP), which either already exist or still needs to be nominated. In terms of contents the GTI consits of a set of activities and objectives agreed on by the CBD member states. Further information can be obtained from the GTI-factsheet.

Events

Cologne Spring Meeting 2012, Molecular Ecology and Evolution
22. February 2012 - 24. February 2012
in Köln, Deutschland

Links between ecology and evolution at the molecular level, microbial and viral systems, host-pathogen interactions, plant communities and food webs

Sub-regional Regional Workshop for Africa on Updating National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans

27. February 2012 - 1. March 2012
in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

6th Central European Diatom Meeting
23. March 2012 - 25. March 2012
in Innsbruck, Österreich

Planet Under Pressure 2012
26. March 2012 - 29. March 2012
in London, United Kingdom
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News

The smalles frog and SpongeBob - new species 2011
29. December 2011

Every year a number of new species are described, the smallest frog of the world, a fungus...

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Trapping data to aid conservation
26. July 2011

A pilot project to help digitise data captured by the network of camera traps in India has been launched in a collaboration between Norwegian and Indian scientific institutions. The Norwegian...

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